Evoke
1: to call forth or up: such as
a: to bring to mind or recollection this place evokes memories
2: to re-create imaginatively
Noun – a throwing of a thing or a person out of a window
There truly is a word for everything, isn’t there? I came upon this word a few years ago, and I was just astounded that there was a proper word for throwing someone out a window. And it is specifically throwing them out a window. Not off a cliff, or off the roof, or even out the door. It’s out the window.
I’m having a giveaway! The complete series telling the entire story of The Spring Street Quilters. You can enter to win on my Rafflecopter.
As you know, I’m working on my next book The Neighbor’s Club. In order to be considered by a traditional publisher, or an agent, I need to build a social platform. You can help me build this platform by following me on Facebook and BookBub. And one lucky winner will receive the set of books.
Of course, we need some talent and education to know how to write a book, but there is another aspect that is sometimes overlooked – Organization. Without that, our story can lose details and depth.
After four books, I finally hit upon My Solution to organization. I started a binder. I love the idea of binders anyway, and I have a lot of them. I love shopping at office supply stores.
In my binder so far I have NC (Neighbor’s Club) Characters and NC Ideas.
There is a lot of information out there for authors on creating characters. And most of it is very good – how to create interesting, compelling, complex, humorous, or memorable characters. You’ll never lack for a ‘how-to’ as long as you’re online.
Let’s think about these people for a moment. I know they’re made-up characters, but they become real people if you live with them long enough. And after writing three books about the same group of women –
Wanting to write a book and writing a book are two different things. You’ll find many people who say they want to or plan to write a book someday.
In my experience, someday has never arrived. I have today and I had yesterday. If I really want to count on someday, I need to nail it down.
- On September 1, 2018, I’m going to sit at my desk and start writing my book.
Doesn’t it seem like you have to be in the mood to write? This is a creative endeavor, after all, we can’t produce creativity on demand. Can we? Well, yes if we train ourselves that way.
It’s like any other creative pursuit – we must commit ourselves to the craft. You’ve heard the advice –
- Prepare a writing desk
- Go to your desk at the same time every day
- Write.
Yesterday I went to the eye doctor. I have to have a shot in my eye once a month and so it was kind of a stressful day to begin with. They do numb my eye very well, and I can barely feel it – but still! You don’t put things in your eye – we’ve been taught that since Day Dot. (or your ear, or your nose … )
Before the shot,
I have been writing and publishing a class on Skillshare. Create Your Own Magazine. I used to do this, about 10 years ago. My magazine was Cotton Spice. It was a quilting magazine. After three years, I was at that ironic point in it’s life: I needed to hire help but couldn’t afford it. I had to let it go. But it was a great run!
Now, everybody has email groups and newsletters.
What’s your hobby? I know – you’re a writer. But you can’t write every single minute – you need downtime. One of the things I do is watercolors and last year I went on a fish binge. Oh, not any kind of fish you’d recognize like a trout or a salmon. Just blobs of watercolor outlined with black pen and they seemed to take on a personality. I painted enough fish to make books for nearly everyone in my family for Christmas and I have schools and schools leftover.